Today was the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. Hurricane Dean was dissipating thorough out Southern California. Temperatures were in the upper 70°s with humidity hovering around 65 percent. Nothing to those in other climes, but we were sweating like proverbial pigs. Heat and all, nearing the end of the summer holidays, we had 20 people present:
Every couple of years, Father Acker does a series of instructional Holy Communion services. He provides contemporary footnotes as it were for the service. This gives us a chance to find out why we do what we do and what it means. This is not only interesting but fun and you have a lot more appreciation of what we are doing each Sunday. If all works out according to schedule, the instruction will last three weeks or so.
Ceremonial
A few words about Ceremonial in the Church. Some churches you may have attended have little or no ceremonial, for example, bowing, genuflecting, or making the sign of the cross. While others have a great deal of ceremonial. The Ceremonial of the Church’s worship comes from the history and practice of the congregation and its Priest.
Our church comes from the Sacramental tradition, a sacrament is the:
Outward and visible sign of the Inward and spiritual grace.
We worship not only with our heart, soul, and mind. We use our physical being as well. Our whole person, our being, including our bodies with all of our senses, are used in worshiping the God who made us, body, mind, and spirit. Our Ceremony is to point to the significance of the liturgical action.
The Anglican Church has a liturgical based service, that is to say it is in a fixed form and varies only slightly from Sunday to Sunday. Liturgy, “work of the people”, it is not show; together we point to the greater reality, what is really going on. Our Ceremonial actions are part of historic Christianity. They are not “Roman Catholic,” but part of Western Christianity. Our Anglican tradition starting in the first century shares the early traditions of all the churches, including those of Eastern Christians from the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
We are liturgical—we have a clearly laid out plan, a printed plan so everyone will know when to do their job, their part, when it comes along. Virtually all churches have plan for their worship. Even plain preaching centered churches have planned worship. Because you’re not being entertained, we don’t keep the plan a secret. The script is there printed in the Prayer Book. We are each actors, participants, in our giving praise to God—God is the audience, not us. We have the script and stage directions.
What makes the difference is what you put into your part.
What you add with your interaction with those around you.
Reading the words isn’t enough. In our opening prayer you ask that: “Your heart be opened … None of your secrets hid … That your heart be cleansed”. Do not let those word remain on the page and the echoes of their reading rebound until they die out, but rather, make them part of your life. Action is yours to take, it is your part; it is your personal devotion. You add your part to the whole—the work of God’s people—the Liturgy.
Manual Acts
Manual Acts are outward gestures, personal acts of worship; for example, making the Sign of the Cross. They are optional and not uniformly practiced. Manual acts are personal devotion—they need to be meaningful to you!
There are some common uses which we will mention these as we continue.
For example, the Sign of the Cross was used by early Christians as a sign by which to recognize fellow Christians during times of persecution in the early centuries of the Church. It was widely used as a sanctifying action that reflected the inward working of God in the lives of Christian men and women.
When I make the Sign of the Cross at the invocation of the Trinity,
I am reminded, “God acted so I might live with Him!”
It could remind you, “I need to follow Jesus.”
Manual Acts are your personal customization of your worship of God.
Not everyone likes catsup and mustard on their burger.
Some like “The Works”, some prefer not to dilute the experience
Here you can expect to Worship God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our Worship has always involved our entire being—our hearts, minds, and bodies. Individually we customize it to express our devotion w/ or w/o outward signs.
Corporately or individually, it isn’t “putting on a good show” or “to amuse ourselves.”
Heart of Worship: “Our songs are not just songs, but signs of loving You.”
Whether you choose plain or fancy, you should know what people are saying through these actions of worship.
Prayer Book
The script we follow is contained in a Book of Common Prayer. The Anglican Church uses the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (BCP), which is a direct descendant of the original 1549 Book of Common Prayer, as a means of bringing worshippers who form the Body of Christ together. The Book of Common Prayer is common in the sense it is common to us all, a means not only to worship, to share our faith, but to bind us together as a common people, the Body of Christ. Using a BCP means whatever Anglican Church you might attend, in whatever country, you will feel at home with the service. It also means the prayers you hear will be familiar to you, you will not have to wait until the end of each prayer to decide if you are willing to add the familiar “Amen”, which means you concur and affirm the foregoing prayer. The BCP is not just a collection of elegant words, it is a reordering and rearranging of Bible text to form a liturgy or order of service. The entire service is based on Biblical text. Rest assured, there is nothing in the service that cannot be found in or proved by Holy Scripture.
Many of you carry your own prayer book with you. The advantage is to have prayers marked for your preference.
Preparation
We come to our Sunday worship to receive Christ Himself. We prepare to receive him with open heart. This requires us to openly and honestly look at ourselves and our need for God. We try to have some music playing in the background to help focus our attention. We sing a song to gather our thoughts (body, soul, and mind) to God.
How do we prepare? Take a look at the Exhortation, BCP p. 85; in fact, look at all three exhortations, which are to be read twice a year, Advent & Lent, as needed and when the priest feels Holy Communion is being neglected. You will note, “the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive the holy Sacrament”
Some come to church expecting solitude to prepare for the service, others come to joyfully worship unto the Lord and to join their fellow believers in a festive event. We should not expect, quiet solitude when we come on Sunday morning. When we hear people being joyfully greeted, this is an opportunity to thank God that this person is present to receive God’s grace this morning.
Printed in the bulletin was this Preparation for Communion leaflet, which your Beadle might add it not a bad preparation for every day life.
Preparation for Communion
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be always acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.
Self-examination
O Blessed Spirit of Truth, through our Lord’s Teachings help me to see myself as I am seen by Thee. Grant me the vision to know my sin, and the courage to hide nothing, so that I may truly confess all of my sins and be worthy to receive Christ in Holy Communion. Amen.
Our Lord said:
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
1. Have I been humble, or have I been blown up with my own importance?
2. Have I put myself ahead of God?
3. Have I bragged about my abilities rather than realizing they are gifts from God which are not of my making?
4. Have I developed and used my God-given abilities for God?
5. Have I been envious of others and said or thought bad things about them to make myself feel more important?
Content borrowed & modified from various sources.
Blessed are the Meek
1. Do I have real faith and trust in God?
2. Have I tried to understand God’s will for me?
3. Have I worried and fretted because things haven’t gone my way?
4. Have I been really open to God and been sure that His desires for me are better than anything I could want?
Blessed are they that Mourn
1. Do I really look for my failure to follow God?
2. Have I neglected God?
3. Have I admitted that God’s power alone is my strength?
4. Am I really deeply sorry when I fail God?
Blessed are they that Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness
1. Have I tried to attain the perfection God wants for me?
2. Have I really tried to break my bad habits of thought and act?
3. Have I tried to put God ahead of worldly pleasures?
4. Do I long to be righteous – to be Christ-like?
Blessed are the Merciful
1. Have I really been aware of the needs of others?
2. Do I really care about anyone but myself?
3. Have I treated everyone with the same love and mercy that I want from God?
4. What explicitly have I done to help someone else? Have I helped them without thought of reward?
Blessed are the pure in Heart
1. Have I totally given myself to God so that my conscience is untroubled?
2. Have I brought my will into accord with God’s will?
And the, Christ also said:
Beware of practicing your piety before men to be seen by them. (Matthew 6:1)
1. What are my motives in worship and service?
2. Have I sought praise from men, or tried only to please God?
3. Have I been self-righteous and proud when I was really only doing my duty to God?
4. Have I worshiped God to please Him, or to feed my own ego?
Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth. (Matthew 6:19)
1. Have I searched for worldly gain harder than I have sought to serve God?
2. Have worldly possessions been more important to me than God?
3. Have I searched and develop the gifts God has given me?
Judge not that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1)
And why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in our own eye? (Luke 6:41)
1. Have I looked with contempt upon others and judged their faults rather than my own?
2. Do I draw conclusions about people without knowing what is in their hearts?
3. Have I hated anyone? Been unwilling to forgive?
4. Do I place so much importance on other’s physical appearance that I do not really see them?
Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? (Luke 6:39)
1. Have I tried to tell others how to live their lives when I cannot order my own?
2. Have I acted like an expert, telling others what is wrong with them, while ignoring my own faults?
No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light (Luke 8:16)
1. Have I been satisfied to worship God on Sunday while concealing my faith the rest of the time?
2. Have I been afraid to admit that I love and worship God and Christ?
3. Have I denied Christ through silence?
4. Have I honestly lived my faith every hour of every day?
5. Have I fulfilled my ministering to others?
Thus, O God, I confess the following sins…
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Wash me thoroughly of my wickedness and cleanse me of my sin. (Psalm 51:1-3)
O my God, I desire to amend my life and live henceforth as is well pleasing to Thee. In Thine mercy, grant me Thy grace that I may overcome all temptations, and persevering unto the end, may obtain everlasting life; through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, our Blessed Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
O my God, I offer myself to Thee with all that I love and all that I have to be Thine forever. Let Thy Holy Spirit be in my mind that I may think aright, in my heart that I may love alright, and in my life that I may live aright, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and keep me; the Lord mercifully with His favor look upon me, and fill me with all spiritual benediction and grace; that I may so live in this life that in the world to come I may have everlasting life. Amen.
I will go unto the altar of God,
even unto the God of my joy and gladness.
Ben Lizak read the Epistle, which came from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, the Third Chapter beginning at the Fourth Verse. Paul reminds us through the Grace of God we can be able ministers of the new testament, on our own we can be in the end no good. If we are able to completely follow the Law, with good intent, we can through that please God, but inasmuch as that is impossible we fall short. The letter of the Law which cannot be complied with is death, the spirit of the Law gives life. That is Jesus’ message, for in the Law is death and in the spirit life. For if there is glory in administering the Law, how much more glory is there in the spirit of the Law, which is Jesus’ message?
“Such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and en-graven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.”
Today’s Gospel started in the Seventh Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark, beginning at the Thirty-First Verse. Jesus came in to the coast of Decapolis. The people brought unto him a deaf mute. Jesus examined the man, put his fingers in his ears, touched his tongue and said “Ephphatha”, that is, “Be opened.” What Jesus did here for the deaf mute physically is what he does for each of us spiritually. Through Jesus, we hear the Word of God and are given the ability to speak it. Conversely, there are none so deaf as those who will not hear and none so blind as those who will not hear.
“Jesus, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.”
Sermon - What will bring you Peace?
Today Father Acker discussed the meaning behind the Epistle, the Law or the Word. Like the “rules”, the Law was written for the “Bottom Ten Percent”, not that “good” people need not follow the Law, but rather good people would try to follow it without it being written. The rest of us need the Law to know right from wrong. Jesus came to us and boiled the Law down to its most important principles. He expected that if we knew what God wanted generally, we would know what He would have us do in any specific situation. This was not a concept that Pharisees could accept. Experts in the Law, adept at using the Law for their own purposes, they did not want someone telling them to do what was right. They were much more comfortable in hiding behind what the Law said and not worrying about right. Jesus gave us general guidelines, such as the Summary of the Law:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
The guidelines were further clarified when the young lawyer followed up asking, “And who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 10:34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?”
Birthdays and Anniversaries
No reported birthdays or anniversaries today.
After Church Hospitality
Fran and Walt Dexter brought goodies today. There were lovely blueberry muffins, deviled eggs, celery with topping and M&Ms. Walt wanted everyone to know he did not let Fran do the whole thing. Sprinkling paprika on the eggs, just so and precisely, is no easy task!
Today’s Kona Coffee from Tim’s House of Coffee was brewed by Master Barrista Ben Lizak. Father Acker managed to get up in time to make his famous low-carb lemonade; a sacrifice much appreciated by your Beadle.
Travel
Karen, Donna and Hamish are traveling week.
Father and Alice are traveling this week to the synod.
Sick or in need of healing
Betty Cooke
Diane Chase
Muriel Pappin
Fran Dexter
Marie “Rede” Acker – Father Acker’s mother broke her good shoulder in a fall Saturday morning 14 July 2007. She is back home with her husband Jack. Please pray for her rapid recovery.
Annie Springer is recovering at home from a kidney infection. Your prayers are asked for her completed recovery and for strength for the Springer family as she gets well.
Lona Walsh (Wanda Michaelis' mother) surgery has been put off.
Barbara Emrich was moved to the Southside of Jacob Health Center. The dining/common room where Barbara spends a good part of the day has floor to ceiling windows looking out into one of the garden areas.
Miney Farrell is doing great an looking forward to getting back to church in the next week or two.!
Lorraine Winkles is finally recovering from shingles. She still has continuing discomfort, but thinks things are improving slightly.
Donna Dingwall is doing well enough that she and her family are going on travel this week. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.
Rest in Peace
On Wednesday, 15 August 2007, Gene Hunt passed away after declining health. Over the past few weeks we have been praying for him as he passed from this world to that of our Lord. Please pray for Evelyn and her family as the mourn his passing and for the repose of his soul. Evelyn is planning on a graveside service but no date at present.
Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord.
And let light perpetual shine upon him.
May his soul, and the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.
Back Door Lending Library
We have some new Amazing Grace books of several flavors, in addition, there are still several sets of the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, as well as some background books on the series. There are plenty of sets, so don’t be shy.
There are also Annotated Holy Communion Books. These books have the Prayer Book Holy Communion service on the left page and an explanation on the right page. They are a great way to learn about the service. Pick one up when you come in and use it for the service, if you like.
Personal 1928 Books of Common Prayer & Bibles
During his many travels and general rooting around, your Beadle has come across some very nice personal 1928 Prayer Books and leather bound Bibles. If you would like one, please contact him directly.
Question that only you can ask
What would you like to know about our history, what we believe, what we do or how we operate? Father Acker is looking for material for the continuing education class and the Beadle is looking for Thought for the Day material. Help us help you. Please send your question to the Beadle so we all can get an answer. Just because you don’t know the answer to your question doesn’t mean you are the only one who doesn’t know. But, if you don’t ask, no one will know.
Missionary Diocese of Viet Nam
No movement this week, good or bad. If you did not get the initial briefing on the Anglican Missionary Diocese of Vietnam, please look at the Beadle’s Report for 22 July 2007.
We invite you to join in the prayers we have been praying each night that:
• The people of Vietnam will not lose their ardor for the church;
• The people here will provide the support they can;
and where prayer is most needed:
• The church hierarchy will not place roadblocks in the way of the Lord's Work.
We hope to be able to complete funding by the end of next month. We need additional funds. Father Acker is approaching all the various Anglican churches, but if you know someone outside the church who might like to help, call Father Acker. This is the most cost effective way your Beadle has seen to spread the Word. Your Beadle is in front of this project and trusts you will follow him with your heart.
Epistle Readers
In response to requests from the congregation and the readers, we will be posting the list of Epistle Readers in the Beadle’s Report from henceforth. This way, you can either plan your attendance or your pre-reading as the spirit so moves you.
Date Reader
2 September 2007 Alice Acker
9 September 2007 Dru Arnold
16 September 2007 Hap Arnold
23 September 2007 Jan Macauley
30 September 2007 Stephanie Boyd
Next Sunday
Next Sunday is the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
Summer is in full swing. We have a lot of people on travel. The Continuing Education Class for the next Sunday or two will be an instructional Holy Communion. Father Acker will be providing contemporary footnotes as it were for the service. You will have a chance to find out why we do what we do and what it means. This is not only interesting but fun and you will have a lot more appreciation of what we are doing each Sunday. Don’t miss it!
Come to church so you won’t want to wait for the Beadle’s Report to find out what happened.
See you next week on Sunday!
Father Acker posts a .pdf version of the current Beadle’s Report on the church website:
http://alpineanglican.com/BeadleReports.htm
An alternative version of the Beadle’s Report without photographs is available at:
http://web.mac.com/thebeadle/iWeb/BeadleBlog/Blog/Blog.html
All back issues of the Beadle’s Reports are available on request from:
thebeadle@mac.com
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